Slowly But Surely
by writingismysuperpower
Summary: The best things take time to develop. The key is to be patient - which isn't exactly James Potter's strong suit.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey y'all! I'm brand new here…all I've ever done is read stories, but I'm excited (nervous, too) about actually getting some of my stuff out there for others to read. I've dabbled in writing before, but I only let one of my best friends read it. So I will gladly accept any criticism, because I know there will be lots of room for improvement.**

**I ship a ton of couples, but Jily has to be one of my favorites. So my first piece will be for them. It's a three –shot. And, um….it's long. REALLY LONG. Like, you're probably gonna be all _we-get-it-James-is-nice-now-can-they-just-kiss-alr eady-so-we-can-all-go-home_? But I hope it's not too bad.**

**Enjoy!**

**All rights to the one-and-only Rowling.**

"_I wouldn't go out with you if it was a choice between you and the giant squid!"_

"_You make me SICK!"_

"_I don't need help from filthy Mudbloods like her!"_

The words played themselves over and over again in James Potter's head. The sixteen year old Quidditch Captain had taken advantage of the bright autumn morning and was flying laps around the pitch. His fingers tightened around the broomstick handle, his knuckles turning white from his strangling grip. He yanked his broom into a steep dive, allowing his toes to brush the grass as he pulled up. Flying had always been a source of venting for James, and as he'd woken up at an ungodly hour on a Saturday anyway he'd headed for some pitch.

"Oi! Prongs!"

He sighed to himself. Temporary solitude seemed to be all he could get nowadays. He came to a graceful landing and walked towards the three Gryffindors standing at the edge of the pitch. Remus Lupin's thin face was etched in concern as he watched his mate approach. Sirius Black was almost exactly opposite, looking instead rather annoyed, rolling his eyes at Peter Pettigrew who stood next to him. Peter seemed to be concerned like Remus, but also watchful of whatever Sirius might say. James came to a stop before the three and raised his eyebrows questioningly at them.

"Mind sharing what's so important that you had to come bother me?"

"Look mate, we've had quite enough," Sirius said exasperatedly, "Remus made us get up and come check on you."

Now it was Remus's turn to roll his eyes. "I didn't make you lot do anything. I said I was coming to check on James and that the two of you were welcome to come along or meet us at breakfast."

"But you woke me up," Sirius whined.

"Only because you're too lazy to get up before noon, you great-"

"Would someone please just tell me what you're doing here? I'd like to get back to flying if it's not too much trouble," James cut in harshly.

An apologetic look briefly flashed across the two boys' faces, but then Remus set his mouth in a stern line.

"James, what's wrong?"

"What's wrong is my three idiot mates decided to come bother me for no reason. "

"No, Prongs," Sirius said, "We want to know what's _wrong_."

James knew what they wanted, but he was tired and cranky and _Merlin_ but he just wanted to fly in peace, was that really too much to ask?

"Is it what happened with Snape after our Defense O.W.L.?" Peter asked quietly. The look that the three boys gave James told him there was no point in lying. He turned his gaze to the dewy grass at his feet and let out a long, slow breath.

"Yeah." The simple admission surprised his friends and it took them a moment to catch up when he suddenly turned on his heel and strode towards the equipment shed.

"Why is that still bothering you? Evans has insulted you loads of times before and you've not been this torn up about it."

"Because before last June I've never thought she was right." James said, his voice flat and defeated.

The silence that met this statement was deafening. Remus looked at his friend and sighed. "Look, Prongs, I think you're being a bit sensitive to her criticism just because you fancy her. You're not a horrible person."

James ran a hand through his hair before remembering that was yet another thing that Lily Evans had shouted at him about that day by the lake. He groaned and decided he might as well make a clean breast of it.

"This is nothing to do with how I feel about Evans. I just think she might have had a point. We're always showing off, messing with Snape, trying to get a laugh by making somebody look stupid. Have you ever thought that maybe we're the ones looking stupid? We're sixth years, and what have we got to show for it?"

"What have we got to show for it?" Sirius repeated incredulously. "Are you kidding me? We're top of our year! We're animagi! You're Quidditch Captain and you hold the all-time school record for highest number of goals scored in a single match for Merlin's sake! What d'you mean, _what have we got to show for it_?"

James's eyes flashed in the way that told Remus things were about to head south. He cut in quickly.  
"Pads, why don't you and Wormy head up to breakfast? We'll join you in a bit."

Sirius looked like he wanted to argue, but Remus shot him a look and he headed off the pitch. Peter clapped Remus on the shoulder before hurrying after Sirius, leaving two of the Marauders alone.

Remus scrutinized James for a moment before he spoke carefully. "Are you referring to the fact that you cost Evans her best friend, the fact that she thinks you're an immature toerag, or the fact that you _were_ an immature toerag?"

"Look, I just want to start being a nicer bloke. Is that some sort of crime?"

"It is if Evans is the only reason."

James sighed again. "Look, I can't exactly sit here and tell you that I don't care what Evans thinks of me. But I can tell you that this has nothing to do with it. I've started…._noticing_ things. Things I've been completely oblivious to before she said something. How the first years are scared to even come say hello or ask how to get to the library because they're afraid we'll turn their hair blue. How nobody comes to us for anything other than a laugh because that's all we're ever good for."

Remus gaped at James, too stunned to say anything for a moment. He shook his head as if to regain his composure and asked, "D'you reckon maybe Lily said all those things because she was angry at Snape? He was her friend and then he hurt like that in front of half our year. Maybe she was taking it out on you."

"Yeah, she was angry, but she still had a point, didn't she?"

Remus didn't know quite what to say to that.

/

Lily Evans, studious she might be, decided that there was definitely something about taking the night off from studies in order to get some much needed sleep. Despite the fact that she still had eight inches of a nasty Transfiguration essay to write and five chapters to read for Charms (she didn't even want to consider the mountain of Potions work waiting for her), she felt refreshed and more awake than she had since before the summer hols. She quickly buttered her toast and reached to pour Marlene's pumpkin juice so it would be ready for her. True to her nature, Marlene had overslept by nearly an hour and would not have time for a proper breakfast before the first Quidditch match of the season. They were playing against Ravenclaw, and Lily glanced across the Great Hall to see half the Slytherin table sporting some kind of the blue and bronze. She rolled her eyes and tucked in to her own breakfast while keeping an eye out for Marlene. She really did need to hurry if she didn't want to be late.

"Evans."

Lily immediately stiffened. She knew that voice, how many times had it said her name over the past three years? She turned slowly to see James Potter decked in his Quidditch uniform, flanked by Sirius Black who was dressed identically apart from the gold C on James's chest.

"Yes?" The inquiry came out harsher than she meant it to, and she almost felt guilty when she saw Potter flinch at her tone.

"Is Marlene alright? She's usually down here by now." His voice was careful, as though he was afraid of her getting angry over a mere question. The fact that he was making her feel guilty did make her angry, though, and so she snapped, "Why? Afraid you might lose your precious match without her? I thought you were the whole team, Potter."

"Not anymore."

His voice, now quiet, rendered Lily speechless. She sat and stared at James Potter as though she'd never seen him before, which, she thought to herself, she never _had_ seen him like this before – timid, quiet, no flashes or showing off, and not once had he ruffled his hair since he'd spoken to her. She realized she was gaping at him and decided to take the olive branch (if that's what it was, anyway).

"She slept a bit late by accident. She should be down in a moment."

He nodded. "Right then, thanks. Tell her we'll be down in the locker rooms once she's eaten, would you? There's no rush, we've still got a couple hours before warm up."

Still baffled, Lily nodded her assent and watched the two teens walk away, but not before she caught the reproachful look Black had sent her way when Potter wasn't looking.

She didn't understand; the last real encounter she'd had with Potter was that awful day by the lake last term. She didn't think it was dreadful of her to blame him for what happened, although she supposed he never meant for it to go as far as it did, and she knew deep down that Severus was just as in the wrong as Potter was, but that didn't make the sting of the memory any less painful.

She shook herself from her musings; she didn't feel like starting the day off cross by dwelling on the ways James Potter had made her life more difficult. She looked up in time to see Marlene come hurrying down the aisle, her scarlet team robes billowing slightly behind her. Her hair hadn't been tied back with its customary scarlet ribbon, and she was trying to pull on one of her boots while walking. By some miracle she managed not to fall as she collapsed on the bench next to Lily, reaching for her waiting goblet of juice. Lily wasn't surprised in the least by this performance; it happened more mornings than not. She reached a hand to Marlene's arm to slow her from downing her juice in one go.

"Potter stopped by and said to tell you there's no hurry. Take the time to eat something, will you?"

Marlene let out a great sigh of relief and turned to sit properly on the bench while reaching for the bowl of cereal. She raised an inquisitive eyebrow at Lily while she fixed herself breakfast.

"Potter stopped by, eh? I didn't notice any screaming or blood smears on the floor. Was he too preoccupied to grate on your nerves?"

Lily rolled her eyes. "Actually, I think he was bit scared. I reckon he feels guilty for last term."

Marlene suppressed her own eye-roll. Guilty didn't exactly depict how James had felt for what had happened that day; she'd kept up correspondence with him over the summer and knew just how much he'd beaten himself up for it. She'd been the only one he had told about all the letters he had started to write Lily, how he had never worked up the courage to send them because he didn't think he had the right to ask her to forgive him. She knew better than anyone the amount of growing up that James Potter had done over the summer, and she also knew (although James himself didn't) that Lily was going to learn of his new found maturity first hand.

She kept these thoughts to herself, however, and simply said, "Well, he'll probably come round to apologize eventually. More than Snape has done."

"Excuse me," Lily interjected, her temper flaring, "Severus came by that very night to say he was sorry!"

"Yes, and then he kept in touch during the summer? See him on the train a few weeks back? Seen him since here at school? What about in between classes?"

Lily's temper deflated just as quickly as it had come. "I know. You and Mary and Alice were right all along. He chose that path a long time ago, I was just too foolish to see that."

"Sweetie, you weren't foolish. You were young and didn't want to think badly of your friend. There's no harm in that. I reckon James feels guilty that you lost that friendship because of him, but you shouldn't still be angry at him because it would've happened eventually anyway."

Lily didn't want to agree, didn't want to think that Severus would've turned on her like that if Potter hadn't riled him up, but she didn't see the point in arguing either. Marlene spooned the last bit of cereal into her mouth and stood up.

"I'll see you at the match, yeah?"

"Yeah. Good luck."

And with that Lily was once more left alone to dwell on the ways James Potter had made her life more difficult, but also the one way he had surprisingly done her a favor without meaning to.

/

The match had come and gone – Gryffindor the victor, of course – and Lily was watching the after match celebration party from her favorite squashy armchair by the fire. Remus, the other Gryffindor prefect, had promised the alcohol would be controlled, and she had been pleased that she had yet to run interference because Black and Potter were trying to smuggle firewhisky to third years. She was content to watch the festivities from the edge of things, mostly because she kept thinking of her and Marlene's breakfast conversation. Maybe Snape did stab her in the back, and maybe James Potter was a bit of an idiot and maybe he did start the whole thing, but she realized that it wasn't fair of her to blame him for what Snape had done.

The subject of her musings suddenly popped up out of nowhere, laughing and trying to pull Black's arms from around Marlene, who seemed a bit tipsy and was finding it difficult not to slosh her drink everywhere as she wobbled towards Lily. Black was, Lily decided, utterly sloshed. He was at least five metres away and she could already smell him. Potter, on the other hand, appeared to be sticking with butterbeer tonight and was completely sober.

Sober certainly described him once his eyes landed on her. The smile melted off his face immediately, to be replaced by a look of concern and – Lily recognized it now – guilt. She decided then and there to take matters into her own hands. She got up quickly and grabbed Potter by the arm and dragged him with her out the portrait hole before she lost her courage.

She turned and faced him, noticing that he looked equally shocked that she had come near him voluntarily and terrified that she had him in a secluded corridor with no witnesses to his what sure to be a violent demise. She fought a laugh that a boy who was at least twice her size, and one of the most athletically gifted individuals to ever walk the corridors of Hogwarts, was afraid of her.

"Look, Potter, we need to talk."

His face, if possible, paled even more

"Evans, you need to know that I'm sorry for that day by the lake. I shouldn't have been picking on Sni-Snape. He was your friend and I screwed that up. I really am sorry."

His apology was sincere to the core- Lily could see it in his face, his posture; hear it in his voice how desperate he was for her to believe him. Until then she hadn't understood how badly he felt about the whole mess, but now she felt a little guilty herself that she had made him feel this way.

"I tried writing to you all summer, but I felt like a prat, putting an apology for something like that in a lousy letter, but it was killing me to leave it this long, and I-"

"Blimey, Potter, shut up a minute, will you?" Lily broke in on a laugh. "I didn't bring you out here so you could apologize."

He blinked. "You….you didn't?"

"No…actually I wanted to thank you."

His jaw dropped, and she took it as invitation to continue.

"Marlene, Mary, and Alice have been trying to tell me since our second year that Snape was bound to end up where he is now. I didn't want to listen, but if I had then what happened at the lake wouldn't have surprised me. He would have cut me loose one or another eventually, and if had been later it might've hurt even more. So I guess I owe you a favor…sort of."

James had never been so stunned in all his life. Here was this girl – this beautiful, brave, strong, infuriatingly-perfect girl – and she was thanking him because he had cost her her best friend.

"Erm…you're welcome…although I still don't understand how that was a favor."

Lily allowed a wry smile to peek through.

"I don't either. I just know that I don't blame you anymore, so maybe now you'll stop acting like a scared pup around me, yeah?"

Now it was James's turn to laugh. She had summed up his actions perfectly. Still, he had to tell her before she left –

"Hey, Evans."

She stopped from starting through the portrait hole to rejoin the party, feeling slightly apprehensive. Here they had just had their first ever civil conversation, and if he went and asked her out she really thought she would kill him then and there.

"Just so you know…I'm trying not to be such a toe-rag anymore."

She smiled at him then, a real smile that sent his heart rate skyrocketing and his skin flushing and he really hoped he hid it well from her because he didn't want to screw this up, no matter how beautiful that smile was or how big and bright those green eyes were. So he simply stood and waited, his hands in his pockets as she studied him in the moonlit corridor. And then she spoke, and her words sent a warm feeling all through him that made him feel as though he'd just drunk a whole mug of firewhisky in one go.

"I can tell. Keep it up, and I just might have to tell the giant squid he's not my favorite anymore."

Then she left him alone with his ridiculous grin and the feeling of hope that he couldn't quite manage to squash in his chest.

/

**Soooo...good? Dreadful? Otherwise? Should I continue?**


	2. Chapter 2

The castle held its usual winter chill, snow swirling softly against the windows and the drafty air making all the suits of armor frost up. Lily and Remus rounded yet another corner as they neared the end of their patrol and they both winced when a gust of cold air blew over them both as they reached the end of the corridor where there were several sets of floor-to-ceiling windows. Lily wandered over to one and peered out across the moonlit grounds. She spotted Hagrid's cabin, all lit up cozy and red from the fire that was sending soft grey smoke furling out the chimney. She was distracted, however, by a sudden movement from near the Quidditch pitch. Squinting through the darkness and elements, she could just make out a lone figure zooming around the pitch, the steep dives and sharp turns recognizable even from this distance.

Remus, who was looking over her shoulder, chuckled to himself before adding quietly, "Looks like Prongs decided to get some fresh air."

Lily looked at him, eyebrow quirked.

"Why do you lot call each other those names? I mean, I get Moony, but the others don't make any sense."

Remus tried very hard not to panic or give himself away, or choose a lie that was too obvious, or to say anything at all, really. It wasn't entirely his secret, but if asked his opinion he'd say Lily had as much right to know as anybody else. And anyway, his part of the secret was no longer unknown to her, since she'd figured it out on her own last year on one of their first patrols together. He had scrambled, trying to think of a way to get her to not tell anyone or be afraid of him, to understand that he wasn't a monster all of the time. To his immense surprise, however, Lily had simply looked at him with admiration oozing out of every pore and told him in no uncertain terms that he was one the bravest and strongest people she'd ever known and that if there ever was anything she could do to help him, share notes on classes he'd miss or come visit in the hospital wing, all he had to do was ask. Remus had never been at such a loss for words before. When his mates found out back in third year, they had broken it to him gently that they knew what he became every full moon. He had thought that they were three completely unique individuals and that nobody else would ever understand or even try to come near him if they knew. Not Lily, though. She had asked him if he was a werewolf, and once he'd answered (honestly), she'd let the matter rest right there, and the two had been fast friends ever since – a cause for nearly constant jealousy from James, which amused his mates to no end.

He tried to think of a way to answer Lily's question without lying to her or betraying his friends' trust.

"You'll have to ask James. It's not my story to tell."

He tried to insert a little humor into his voice so she wouldn't think something was wrong.

Her reaction wasn't the one he'd been hoping for, though; she furrowed her brow and asked, "The others...they do know, don't they? I mean, I can see Black or Pettigrew not figuring it out, but Potter can be hard to fool sometimes. I can't imagine you've gotten away with it all these years right under his nose. He is your roommate, after all."

Remus sighed and resigned himself to at least partially giving away his best mates. He knew they would forgive him, but after everything they'd done for him even that much made him feel guilty.

"Yes, they know. And Lily, whatever you think about them, past or present, you need to know that those three have done more for me than anyone ever has in my whole life. They went beyond just accepting me. They've tried every month since they found out to make the whole thing easier for me."

Lily wished she could say she was surprised, but truthfully, she wasn't at all. The fall term of her sixth year had been mysteriously void of pranks, date offers, and all-out torture of the James Potter variety. She hadn't been lying to him that night outside the common room. It was very clear to her in that moment that he had tried to grow up a little, but the extent to which he had succeeded only became apparent in the months that followed. She kept catching him doing things that the old Potter wouldn't be caught dead doing – helping someone pick up their spilled books in the rush between classes, showing a group of first years a faster route to the Charms corridor so they wouldn't be late to class, and she even spotted him tutoring a second year in Transfiguration when she'd gone to the library to do some research. And as the Christmas holidays approached, she hadn't been approached by him with mistletoe once. The whole thing was, to say the least, very strange.

Despite being forced to admit that Potter had some redeemable qualities, she didn't know quite what to say to Remus's statement of what a good mate he was. She settled for looking back out the window, only to see that James had landed and was headed back up to the castle, broomstick in hand.

"Isn't he freezing?"

"Not likely," Remus laughed, "James never gets cold. You've seen him- he's always rolling his sleeves up and taking off his tie because he says it feels like he's smothering."

Lily shrugged – if James Potter wanted to freeze to death, who was she to stop him? - and turned to finish their last bit of rounds. She was glad to be finished for tonight; she was cold and tired and was dreading double Potions with the Slytherins first thing in the morning. As she and Remus passed a broom cupboard, she heard voices coming from inside. She rolled her eyes at Remus, who was trying not laugh – for all his gentlemanly traits, he couldn't stop from sniggering every time they had to bust students from their..._activities_. She reached and yanked the door open, only to gasp as she found herself facing the wandtip of none other than Severus Snape. Almost instantly, she felt Remus start to draw his own wand, but at least five other figures stepped out of the shadows and formed a circle around the two of them. Snape made his way out of the cupboard, his eyes never quite meeting Lily's as he held his wand to her throat. Heart pounding, Lily realized that she and Remus had just been ambushed very neatly and quietly, and that help was far from coming, if it came at all. A voice, cold and silky, spoke from her right.

"Look what we've found," sneered Lucius Malfoy, "a Mudblood and an equally filthy blood-traitor. Enjoying the moonlight, you two?"

Something in Snape's eyes flashed at his words; Lily thought for a moment that he seemed almost reluctant to threaten her. Then she looked at his wand hand and realized it wasn't even shaking, that he wasn't fazed in the slightest. Anger such as she'd never known before pounded through her veins at the fact that her former friend was cowardly and weak enough to turn on her like this just to get in with the right crowd.

"Twenty points from Slytherin for being out past curfew." Remus spoke up. "Now get out of here before I fetch McGonagall."

There were more than a few titters at his reprimand; Avery seemed to find it especially amusing. He took a step forward and shoved Remus in the chest. Remus stood his ground and glared at the lot of them, while Lily looked at Snape as though he were something that had crawled up from the shower drain. He glanced at her and his lip curled before he spat, "Stupid Mudblood. You should know better than to wander without protection at night." She realized that he might actually be speaking out of concern for her safety, but her anger still took center stage in her mind.

"Actually, _Snivellus_, I'm not in the habit of being afraid of a bunch of narrow-minded idiots who think some mad tosser should rule the world. You can take your stupid bigotry and _stuff it_, and then get to your common room. Twenty more points for your cheek."

A ringing silence met her words. Snape looked absolutely stunned that she'd spoken in such a way, but she was long past caring. She held his gaze, determined to throw the first curse if he opened that insufferable mouth of his again. Avery, however, took matters out of her hands and cried, "_Relashio!_"

Remus started forward, but not in time to stop the deep gash from appearing on Lily's cheek. She retaliated instantly, drawing her wand with a speed that surprised everyone. She flicked her wand almost casually, but Remus felt his hair stand on end as the nonverbal Stunning Spell flew past him and hit Avery square in the chest. Before he had even hit the floor, Lily had turned her wand to Malfoy and the others. He felt that perhaps he ought to stand behind her and give some support, but then he looked at the shocked faces of the five remaining Slytherins and realized there was no need. He had never seen such a look of pure fury on Lily's face before. The blood continued to stream from her cheek, her eyes flashed thundersously, and her wand was now pointed directly at Snape, who had lowered his wand when the first spell had been cast. She spoke again, her voice low and so full of anger that it sent chills down Remus's spine.

"Get. _Out_."

Malfoy sent a furious glare her way, but he sent two of the others – Nott and Rowel – to fetch Avery's limp form. Once they'd made their way out of sight, Lily turned on her heel and marched back towards the Gryffindor common room. Remus kept up with her best he could, determined to look at that cut once they'd reached safety. Lily barked out the password, and allowed him to help her through the portrait hole and over to one of the couches. He almost didn't notice the small group sitting in front of the fire, but he looked up and saw Sirius, Alice, Marlene, Mary, and Peter coming over to them. He knelt before Lily and looked her right in the eye.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes." The answer came out still angry, but also with a good deal more sorrow in it. Knowing full well the reason, Remus turned his attention from that look in her eyes to the gash that was still bleeding profusely. He pulled out his wand and carefully siphoned away most of the blood, but he was afraid to try any kind of healing spell. He quickly explained what had happened to the others. Marlene set her jaw in anger, but Sirius actually grinned.

"Always knew you had it in you, Evans. Forgive me for ever doubting."

Lily rolled her eyes but allowed a small smile of her own to peep through.

"Should she go to the hospital wing?" asked Mary. The three girls looked on anxiously, but Remus shook his head.

"It's not that serious. A simple healing charm will do the trick. But that's not my strong point…you need to get James to do it."

"James?" Lily repeated. "How does he know healing magic?"

The three boys exchanged looks – they all knew exactly why James was good at healing charms, but they couldn't explain the real reason to the girls without James himself present. Sirius rescued them, letting out short barking laugh.

"Oh, you know James. He's always trying stupid stunts on his broom. Reckon he learned some healing charms so he wouldn't have to go see Pomfrey as much."

Remus smiled at that; it wasn't a complete lie, James had gotten hurt goofing off on his broom before. He looked around the common room quizzically.

"Is he back yet? We saw him flying laps out the window earlier."

"He's upstairs showering," Sirius replied.

"I'll go fetch him," Peter said and turned to head up the boys' staircase. Before he reached it, however, James himself came bounding down, shaking his damp hair out of his eyes as he took in the group before him. Pausing as he wondered why they were all staring at him, he looked at Remus.

"What?"

Remus, who had been on one knee in front of Lily until now, stood to his full height and gestured James over to her.

"We had a bit of a run in with Malfoy. Lily here set Avery off and he got her with a Slashing Charm."

James came around from behind the group and caught sight of Lily sitting on the couch. She was trying to stem the bleeding by pressing the sleeve of her robes to the gash, but the material brushing against the open flesh only made her wince. James forced himself not to take her hands in his and ask who had done this to her. His heart squeezed painfully as he took in her appearance – she was paler than Nearly Headless Nick, and her hands were visibly trembling. She kept blinking as though to stop her eyes from tearing up, but he could see that she was frightened and angry and hurt, and he bet his broomstick that he knew exactly who had been there to shake her up so badly.

He knelt before her as Remus had done and took a good look at her cheek. It was deep, but not very long and wouldn't be difficult at all to heal properly. His gaze shifted to her eyes, and he asked softly, "Snape?"

She nodded, her features crumpling for the briefest moment before she shocked everyone (James especially) and buried her face in his shoulder. His arms went round her instinctively; he could feel her shaking violently as she tried to keep from full-out sobbing. Abruptly she sat up straight again and looked at his shirt and said in a strange, choked voice, "You've got my blood on your shirt now."

He grinned.

"Evans, I couldn't care less. Let's get you cleaned up, yeah?"

And so he whispered the words to the healing charm and let the girls take her up to bed, leaving the four boys downstairs. He didn't meet Remus's eye or exchange a smirk with Sirius; he simply went upstairs and got in bed, because frankly, he didn't think he could find his voice at the moment. Not when his mind was so full of the smell and feel of Lily Evans in his arms.

/

The next morning, Lily woke a little earlier than usual, but she was glad for the few extra moments to think. She supposed that last night could have ended much worse than it did, but it didn't and she was grateful that nobody seemed to be hovering to see if she was alright. Putting on a brave face, she stuck to her routine as she showered, physically dragged Alice out of bed, and headed down to breakfast while the other three got ready. She was surprised to find the four Marauders waiting for her by the portrait hole. She felt her face color as James looked at her, and she found herself slightly irritated as she spoke.

"Well? What made you decide that I needed an escort to breakfast?"

"I dunno, maybe the fact that Moony had to help you in the common room last night with half your face covered in blood", Sirius said sarcastically.

She raised her eyebrows at Remus, then at James. The latter simply smiled at her (while she tried to ignore the suspicious but annoying butterflies that seemed to erupt in her stomach) and said, we just wanted to make sure you were alright is all. You gave Remus here a bit of a scare last night."

Remus snorted and rolled his eyes at James, whose grin got even bigger and amended, "Alright, you gave me a scare too. But if you don't want the company we'll leave you alone."

Scrutinizing each of the four boys in front of her, Lily finally gave in.

"Well, come on, then, before all the waffles are gone."

As the five made their way down the main staircase, Lily spotted Malfoy, Snape and Avery coming from the direction of the Slytherin common room in the dungeons. There was no missing the animosity in the air as the two groups faltered in their progress to the Great Hall; Lily and Remus both tensed up immediately, the latter throwing a concerned glance at the petite redhead. Lily found herself nearly shaking with rage all over again, and just as she was about to put the whole mess behind her and go eat her breakfast like she wanted, Malfoy curled his lip in disgust while Snape pointedly looked anywhere but at Lily and how close she was standing to James. Avery looked furious; he looked around to make sure no teachers were listening and then took a couple steps in her direction while whispering, "You think last night makes you some sort of threat, do you Evans? Feeling strong enough to best us again? Why not have a go, nobody's watching, nobody'll see the Mudblood make a fool of herself-"

Lily didn't know when Potter started to move, but all of a sudden he had Avery backed up against a wall, his fist clenched at the Slytherin's throat. The Entrance Hall had filled with students – Lily saw Marlene, Alice and Mary up at the top of the staircase – but no one hardly dared to breathe as they watched the scene unfold. Potter's face was frightening; Lily had never seen anyone look that angry, although she reckoned she knew what it felt like. But his voice, when he finally did speak, was by far the scariest. It wasn't deathly quiet, nor was it abnormally loud; but it carried an edge of steel that showed just how very angry James Potter was at that moment.

"If you ever come near her again," James stated, "I will personally thrash you to within an inch of your life. Then we'll see if that old codger you think is so great will find you useful in his services, yeah?"

Avery's face turned red from anger, but when James finally released him he settled for a glare and stalked off into the Great Hall. Malfoy swept after him, and Snape, after sending James a look of the deepest loathing, followed. James walked back to where Lily, Remus, Sirius and Peter were standing and gestured for Lily to precede him. Speechless from shock at what had just happened, Lily complied.

The meal itself was rather uneventful, but Lily was glad for the mundane. Her mind kept dwelling on the look in Potter's eyes and the tone of his voice. She had a strong feeling that Potter had meant every word he had said, and that he had every intention of carrying out his threat. What she wasn't sure of was how she felt about that. She found herself trying to understand why he would defend her so fiercely when all she had done was treat him horribly over the years. They had reached some sort of truce this year, but she would hardly call them best mates. And yet here he was, risking his position as Quidditch Captain because she got a small scratch from some petty blood-purists.

She was no nearer to understanding Potter's behavior when breakfast ended and the eight of them were headed down to the dungeons for their first class. Normally, Lily would find Potions a welcome distraction from everything on her mind; the subject had always been one of her favorites. But this morning they were sharing the classroom with the Slytherins, and it only served to remind Lily over and over again of the events that had taken place last night and this morning. The period passed by in a fog; she supposed she did alright since Mary, her partner, hadn't said anything. But she finally decided that the only way she would ever answer any of her questions would be to ask Potter. She caught up with him after Potions; their next class was Charms and she didn't want to be late but she had to know otherwise she'd get nothing done at all today.

"Potter."

He turned immediately, seeing her lagging behind their group in the dark corridor. She looked worried over something, and so he hung back as well until they were completely alone. He waited for her to say something, watching her bite her lip and study the front of his robes as she thought. He was about to ask if anything was wrong when suddenly she burst out, "Why would you do that?"

Taken aback, it was a moment before he understood what she meant. Inside he tried not to panic, but he really should have thought before he'd gone into knight-in-shining-armor-mode in front of everyone like that. Lily Evans was clever, with a fast memory for incantations and a forte for nonverbal spells that wasn't rivaled by anyone else. She liked to fight her own battles because she could; she wasn't the damsel in distress type and had he stopped to think this morning he would have remembered that and let her handle it instead. But no, instead he had to lose his temper just like he used to around Snape and act like a complete idiot in front of Lily Evans. Again.

"Evans, I wasn't trying to fight your battles for you….I'm sorry. I just-"

"Potter, I'm not upset with you, alright? I just wanted to know why you were so angry. I've never seen you like that."

_That's all? You got ambushed and got hurt and you want to know why I was angry?_ James wanted to laugh. For all her brilliance, Lily could be rather oblivious at times. He'd turned down the flirting and teasing as of late, but he just couldn't resist leaning in a little bit closer and saying gently, "Well, I suppose you'll just have to figure that one out yourself, won't you?"

Lily blinked up at him, wondering how she'd never noticed how his hazel eyes had flecks of gold and green in them, how soft that mop of black hair looked, how strong and solid his shoulder had felt last night when all she'd wanted to do was cry and how warm his arms had felt around her, how his jaw looked square and determined, but right now it was gentle and friendly and if he grinned any bigger than that dimple she'd noticed way back in third year would pop up just there –

_Blimey. What just happened?_

There wasn't any harm in Potter being nice, she decided. She summoned all her Gryffindor courage and reached up to give him a quick, friendly kiss on the cheek. She smiled at him.

"Well, whatever your reasoning, thanks."

Once more, she left him standing alone, a dumbstruck grin on his face as reached slowly up to the burning spot on his cheek where her lips had touched him. He whirled around, but she was already long gone. He made his own way upstairs to Charms – he was most definitely late now – but he wasn't sure his feet ever touched the floor.

/

The train ride home for Christmas was as lively as one could expect it to be in the Marauder's compartment. After losing two consecutive games of Exploding Snap, Remus was eating Every Flavor Beans blindfolded while Mary and Alice chose the flavors. Sirius was trying to beat Peter in chess, but since the latter had Marlene on his side whispering instructions in his ear the others frequently heard Sirius swearing while Marlene and Peter laughed. Lily herself watched from the sidelines, occasionally helping Mary and Alice choose the beans for Remus, while he reprimanded her on prefects sticking together in times of distress. James was situated in the corner, trying his hand at the crossword in the Daily Prophet. He kept sticking his tongue between his lips as he concentrated. He said he and his mother would often do the crossword together over the hols and he was trying to get a head start so they could compare answers.

The lunch trolley had come and gone, and Lily bent to pick up all the empty wrappers of the floor on her way out to the loo. As she headed down the train, she saw Snape come out of a compartment just ahead of her. Her stomach clenched as he caught sight of her and, glancing over his shoulder, approached her quickly.

"Lily, I-"

"Save it"

"But Lily, you need to know-"

"Know _what_, exactly?" Lily snapped. "How my friend chose some radical, murdering dictator over me? How you stood by and did nothing while I was being attacked? What else am I supposed to know, Snape?"

He winced at her use of his surname.

"Look, I understand if your angry, but this isn't about me. It's about Potter."

"_Potter?_"

"Yes, Potter! He's using you. He thinks because you got hurt he can swoop in and save you but Lily, you'll just get hurt even more if you choose him. You've got to listen to me, he doesn't-"

"Shutup," Lily snarled. "You don't have a clue what you're talking about, he stood up for me because he's a decent bloke! And anyway, since when do you care if I get hurt?"

"Lily, please, I'm begging you to stay away from him, you know he's just an immature git anyway!"

_**CRACK**_

The sound of Lily's hand flying across Snape's face was deafening. Several students popped their heads out the sliding doors to the compartments and saw her standing there, red faced with rage. Snape was also flushed, but it was partly from embarrassment and partly from the handprint that was rapidly appearing on his cheek.

Once more, silence fell up and down the corridor. This time, Lily broke it herself.

"James Potter is _twice_ the man you'll ever be. If you ever talk about him like that again, _I'll_ be the one make you spit up soap suds, understand?"

Snape's eyes widened upon hearing her words. Lily whirled around, forgetting all about the loo. She looked up and saw Potter standing outside their compartment. She took one glance at his slack-jawed expression and knew that he had seen – and heard – the whole thing.

But she found that she didn't much care if Potter knew that she thought he'd become a man. He had grown up considerably, and it was time she acknowledged it. She counted him as a friend, so by Merlin she would defend him to the end if need be. And as he came back inside and sat across from her, she caught his eye and grinned at him and realized that a friendship with James Potter was going to be a lovely thing to have.

**Wow. This was even longer than the first chapter. I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing. Anyway…I GOT FOUR REVIEWS. Did you see? So exciting! And I appreciate the kind words so much…I was very nervous about publishing anything. But I'm feeling a little more confident.**

**I feel like this chapter was a little too cliché for my tastes. But some parts of it couldn't be helped.**

**Also…you know how I said this was a three shot?**

**I lied.**

**Okay, I actually just changed my mind, but the chapters are spaced so far apart chronologically that in order to have the ending I want and not skip anything important I'll need four chapters instead of three. It is what it is, I guess.**

**Anyhow, thanks for reading! Please review – I'd love tips for improvements!**


	3. Chapter 3

_**First off, I would like to thank EVERYONE who has even read my story so far. It means the world to me that people actually will sit and read at least some of it, and the fact that some of you tell me that you like it...that just makes my day. I love you guys like Thor loves coffee. :'D**_

_**I would have uploaded this last night, but guess what….the site was down. So on my day off I'll start working on chapter 4.**_

_**Something that I've been meaning to get out there…I've been reading as anon on here for quite a while now, and I've read/reviewed several Jily fics. I did come up with this plot on my own, but I know that the stories I've read have altered my idea of what these characters were like. If you're reading this and you think that my characters or something sound like yours, please PM me and I will gladly give you credit if I've read your story and think it's influenced my writing in any way. I would never want to steal someone's ideas.**_

_**Glad to get that off my chest….now on to chapter 3!**_

/

The door to the sixth year Gryffindor girl's dormitory banged open, waking up Mary's cat who had been napping on the sunlit patch of floor near the window. Lily rushed over to her trunk and began to dig through it frantically, muttering under her breath.

"Scarf…c'mon…where's….HA!"

She pulled her scarlet and gold scarf out from underneath her trainers and, hastily looping it around her neck, made her way back downstairs and out the portrait hole. She'd been almost halfway to the pitch before she'd realized she forgot her scarf, and so the others had promised to save her seat while she went to retrieve it. It was the semi-finals, Gryffindor versus Slytherin, and the entire school was in an uproar.

James had been on edge for weeks, scheduling practices and constantly poring over bits of parchment that depicted different strategies. The other Marauders seemed to know to leave him alone to his almost crazed preparations. Lily was surprised that Black, who was one of the Beaters, and Marlene, who played Seeker, weren't in a similar state as Potter, but they both had assured her that Potter was stressed enough for the whole team; apparently there was also yet another record of most goals scored of all time that James was very close to breaking. And so Lily watched as the Marauders did their homework and told jokes and played chess and spent evening after evening laughing in front of the fire, while James sat alone in a corner, re-reading his worn copy of _Quidditch Through the Ages_. As she pounded down the front steps of the castle, she wondered if maybe James's nerves had anything to do with his Captainship combined with the new record. It would be just like him to demand more of himself than anyone else. Well, she would show more than her share of house pride and cheer him and the rest of the team on today. That is, if she made it in time to watch any of the match at all.

She sprinted down the path, her long auburn hair flying out behind her. Clutching the stich in her side, she ran past the locker rooms, up several flights of rickety wooden stairs, until she finally emerged among the throng of students sporting the Gryffindor colors. She saw immediately that she had missed the team introductions; the players were already flying practice laps around the pitch. Flecks of scarlet and gold streaked by their spot in the stands, and as Lily pushed through to where her friends were standing at the rail, James flew right up to Remus and hovered there, gripping his broom in one hand and pushing the other through his hair.

"Alright, Moony?"

The question was so random, so out of place that Lily looked at Remus in confusion for a moment before seeing why Potter would ask – there were deep dark circles under her friend's eyes, and he looked as if a mere breeze would knock him flat. With a pang, she realized that last night had been a full moon. She hadn't even thought to ask him how he was feeling, and yet here was Potter, who had been preoccupied for weeks, and he had remembered. Feeling simultaneously guilty and impressed with Potter (that seemed to be happening more and more often these days, much to her annoyance), she watched Remus's face carefully as he answered.

"Never better, Prongs. Good luck."

Nodding his thanks, James turned his gaze to Lily and grinned.

"Morning, Evans. Cheer especially loud for me, will you?"

She quirked an eyebrow. "Why would you want me to do that?"

His smirk got even wider, if possible, and he allowed his broom to float even closer to the rail, so close that Lily could clearly see the look in his eyes as he answered.

"Well, I don't know if you're aware, Evans, but today's a fairly important match in my career. I've heard that having a beautiful girl on your side can bring luck."

He took a moment to sit there and enjoy the adorable blush that stained her cheeks as she tried desperately not to smile. _It's James bleeding Potter_, she reminded herself firmly. _You don't care if he thinks you're beautiful enough to say so in front of everyone. You don't care what he thinks about anything. Get a grip._

Ever since the Christmas holidays, he had been more forward in his teasing. Lily was finding it increasingly harder to get annoyed by it - it wasn't the loud, obnoxious teasing that she had detested, but rather a banter that stemmed from their newfound friendship. More times than not she was unable to hide her smile from him, which of course egged him on even more. It was all very confusing, but Lily found herself enjoying not having to understand something for once, to just let it be what it was and enjoy it instead of analyzing it too far. And so where Lily of fifth-year would have rolled her eyes and told him to go choke on the Snitch, sixth-year Lily only returned his smile and said, "Good luck, Potter."

James simply sat there on his broom and stared at her. He wished the butterflies would leave his stomach alone and that the voice in his head that was currently screaming in joy would just shut _up_, because both were making him start to think that Lily Evans was flirting with him, and he knew that wasn't, _couldn't_ be true because Lily Evans barely tolerated James Potter and she probably wouldn't want to be caught dead flirting with him. And so where James of fifth-year would have made some snarky comment on how Lily should appreciate how he wore his Quidditch trousers, sixth-year James threw her a wink and a cheeky grin and turned to meet Madam Hooch and the Slytherin Captain in the middle of the pitch.

Half and an hour later, Gryffindor led the match at three hundred and twenty to Slytherin's sixty. Marlene and the other Seeker had each come within a hair's breadth of catching the Snitch, but had missed at the last moment. James was, in Lily's opinion, pulling out all the stops. The crowd was constantly gasping and shrieking every time he pulled some dangerous new move, but the cheering steadily grew in volume as he scored goal after goal to the point where Lily couldn't even hear herself shouting, but her eyes never left the star Chaser in the scarlet and gold. And when he scored the final goal just moments before Marlene finally grabbed the Snitch right from under the Slytherin Seeker's nose and the commentator shouted over the din that James Potter had just set a new record and she looked up and saw him flying over to where they were, dragging Sirius and Marlene with him in some sort of mid-air group hug, she really just couldn't help herself. She threw her arms around his neck the moment he got near enough and hugged him for all she was worth. His own arms were around her waist and were squeezing tight as they all laughed and cheered and pounded James on the back, and finally she had to let go because he needed to go shower while the boys got the party ready in the common room.

As Lily watched him meet the rest of his team on the pitch, and as they leaped in the air and shouted and laughed and all the girls gave James a fat kiss on his cheek, she couldn't but help but admit to herself that watching him play really was breathtaking.

Not to mention those Quidditch trousers.

/

Gryffindor House continued in its feeling of euphoria well into the next week, as Thursday drew to a close Lily thought that they might as well have gone ahead and had an after part every night since the match. She smiled, thinking of how happy James had seemed all week, as though an enormous load had been taken off his shoulders; really though, the entire week had felt much easier to everyone, she mused as she returned her library books to their shelves and gathered her things, ready to go relax in the common room with her friends. Perhaps tonight she would finally beat Remus in chess (Sirius had been trying to coach her but had given it up as a lost cause when Lily refused to shout at the chess pieces, saying she didn't want to hurt their feelings), and there was always Exploding Snap, which was one of her favorites since James always built ridiculously elaborate card castles and therefore had the most spectacular explosions.

On her way back to the common room, she noticed how quiet the castle seemed, especially for so early in the evening. It wasn't quite curfew yet, but she hadn't seen a soul for two entire floors now. She couldn't put her finger on it, but the silence was eerie rather than peaceful. She recalled the night she and Remus had been ambushed in December, how suddenly they had come upon them. She started walking a little faster, gripping her wand in her pocket while readjusting the shoulder strap on her bag. If she and Remus had been forced to fight, she had no desire to be caught out alone. Her heart nearly stopped in her chest when she rounded a dark corner and came face to face with Rodolphus Lestrange, Lucius Malfoy, and none other than Severus Snape. She looked scornfully at all three of them and made to walk past, but a large, beefy hand shot out and grabbed her upper arm in a painfully tight grip. Backing her into the stone wall, Lestrange bent his head so close her own that she nearly went cross-eyed from trying to glare at him.

"Didn't we tell you that filthy little Mudbloods ought not to wander about on their own?" He hissed in her ear. His voice was pure venom and send tremors down her spine as she struggled to get free.

"Get off me!"

"Oh, no, I don't think I will," He laughed viciously, "at least not until you've learned how dangerous it is to walk around with no protection. Maybe then you'll listen when we tell you to do something."

Lily promptly spat in his face. His eyes flashed, and his fist came up and collided with her jaw before she had time to try and get free again. Her knees buckled, and when he released her arm she crumpled to the floor, trying to blink the yellow spots from her vision. A booted foot came out of nowhere and kicked her in the stomach, hard, and she gasped for air as she collapsed onto her side. She dimly heard their laugher, rough and callous, and furiously she rolled to a crouching position while pulling out her wand and aimed two Binding Hexes at Lestrange and Snape. She pointed her wand at Malfoy next, but the spell that came from his wand took her completely off guard.

"_Crucio!_"

Pain of an intensity she'd never imagined possible set the marrow of her bones on fire; it was as if she was slowly disintegrating in acid, and though she heard the screams that came from her mouth they did nothing to lessen the pain. She was dimly aware of Malfoy laughing again, and the moment the curse was lifted she swore furiously at him. He hit her again, this time making her twitch and writhe at his feet.

Suddenly, the fire stopped and she was left panting and trembling face first on the cold floor. She heard footsteps quickly approaching, and she looked up and saw Malfoy unconscious between Lestrange and Snape. A large, firm hand grasped her shoulder as a deep voice queried, "Lily?" It was a few moments before she felt the strength to roll over and see that her rescuer was none other than Frank Longbottom. He was the current Head Boy and a year ahead of her in Gryffindor. She honestly didn't see much of him outside of prefect meetings, but she knew he was a decent enough bloke and that he had a bit of a soft spot for Alice.

"Are you alright?"

Still breathing heavily, Lily choked back the tears that wanted so badly to come and rasped, "Yeah, I'm fine. Help me up, will you?"

Taking her hand, he pulled her carefully to her feet, but almost immediately had to catch her as she paled and swayed where she stood. He looked at her closely.

"What in the name of Godric are you doing out here by yourself, Lily?"

"I was just on the way back from the library," she choked, "and I came round the corner and they were just _there_, waiting for me, and he backed up against the wall and I couldn't get to my wand and he was so much bigger that I was and-"

"Hey, it's alright," Frank broke in. He pulled her into a brotherly hug. "You're safe now, yeah? Let's get you back to the common room and we can discuss it there. Unless you need the hospital wing?"

Shaking her head too fast, she fought another wave of dizziness and almost fell over again, and he realized she was in no shape to walk the remaining way to Gryffindor Tower. Bending down, he gently scooped her into his arms and hurried off to the common room, leaving the three Slytherins behind. Lily let her head rest against his shoulder – he really was very nice – and asked herself how in Agrippa's name she could have been so stupid. She had little time to berate herself, however, as they soon arrived at the Fat Lady. Frank had hardly set one foot through the portrait hole (thank Merlin the common room was practically empty) when she heard that voice cry her name.

"_Lily!"_

Almost immediately James was there, stroking her hair back from her face, the look in his eyes making something in her chest squeeze painfully. Frank slowly set her down on one of the sofas and backed up to let the others crowd in around her. She tried to focus on keeping her hands from shaking so badly, but when Alice handed her a handkerchief and she nearly dropped it James took both of her hands in his. He didn't say anything, he didn't ask any questions, only sat and stroked the back of her hand with his calloused thumb until the shaking had stopped and a small amount of color returned to her face. When he did voice a question, it was directed at Frank, who seemed surprised to be addressed at all.

"What happened?"

"I don't know all of it," he answered honestly, "I was nearly two floors away from her. But I heard someone screaming so I ran towards the sound. "

"Screaming?" James said sharply. "Why was she screaming?"

Frank paused here; he wasn't daft, he'd seen the way Potter looked at Lily, and truth be told if anyone had found Alice where Lily had been tonight he most likely would have blown a coronary. As it was, he also knew that he would want to know, and so he looked James straight in the eye and told him.

"Malfoy used the Cruciatus Curse on her. He wasn't showing any signs of stopping until I stunned him from behind."

The girls gasped while Remus and Sirius froze, staring at Frank as though they were waiting for him to take it back.

James whipped his head around to look at Lily. She returned his gaze, and her eyes were void of tears, but something in them looked so broken that he almost couldn't breathe with the pain of it. He reached up and gently stroked her cheek with the back of his fingers. She closed her eyes at his touch, and he saw her chin tremble ever so slightly before she leaned into him, burying her face in his chest. He wrapped his arms tightly around her and whispered in her ear, "You're safe now Lily. I won't let them hurt you again. I promise."

When she pulled back, her face was dry but there two small wet spots on his shirt where her eyes had been. Marlene and Mary helped her to her feet, and led her upstairs to go to bed. Alice lagged behind, looking at Frank with something very akin to adoration on her face. He seemed a little uncomfortable under her scrutiny, but when she suddenly threw her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek, something akin to shock crossed his face. He watched her hurry after the girls up the staircase before remembering that the four Marauders were still in the room.

James slowly turned to face the others. Remus and Peter were furious, he could see that easily. Sirius had a vein pulsating in his jaw, and Frank was still recovering from Post-Alice-Prewett-Just-Kissed-Me-Syndrome. He met James's furious gaze with one of his own, knowing that he had to back up his friends on this, that this was far beyond his duties as Head Boy.

"James, I swear to you that they'll pay for this."

James found that he really didn't know what to say; all the expletives in the world wouldn't describe how angry he was, but he knew one thing: Frank Longbottom had the precisely right idea.

/

The next morning Lil woke slowly, wincing against her headache and wondering why she felt so sore. The moment she sat up, the room spun and turned green and the pain in her side made her gasp. Last night's events came rushing back, and once more she had to struggle with the tears that pricked her eyes. Once more, she supposed she was very lucky to have gotten away with what she did, but that didn't make what did happen any easier to deal with.

Moving as gradually as possible and thanking Merlin it was a Saturday, she showered, allowing the hot water to release the soreness and tension in her shoulders. Once she'd dried herself off, she dressed in her favorite pair of jeans and an oversized jumper. She caught sight of her face in the mirror and grimaced; Lestrange had left an enormous purple-and-green splotch that covered nearly half her face. It hurt to look at, and since she had no intention of leaving the tower today she saw no point in covering it with makeup.

The other beds were empty, and she hoped they would all be in the common room. The stairs proved to be a bit of a challenge; she had to grip the rail tightly and move even more slowly, but eventually she made it all the way down and saw that James was waiting alone by the fireplace. He was reading something, his brow furrowed in concentration, but her movements caught his eye and he immediately set it down to come stand before her.

"Sleep well?" His voice was deep and quiet, and something about it soothed her while still managing to make those stupid butterflies erupt in her stomach again. She gave a wry smile.

"Well enough, I suppose. Where are the others?"

"They went to breakfast just a few minutes ago. Would you like to go?"

"No, I'm not hungry much. Thanks though." Truth be told, she had no desire to set one foot outside the common room until it was absolutely necessary. The thought of facing Malfoy in the Entrance Hall again made her queasy, even if James was with her.

James seemed to understand as much; he nodded and took one of her hands to lead her over to the couch. He sat rather close to her, and they sat in silence for a few moments before James spoke, tentatively.

"I thought Frank said you got hit with Cruciatus…what happened to your face?"

She looked at him, knowing that telling him the whole story would only make him angrier than he had been last night, but also knowing that he deserved to hear what had really happened.

"Yeah, well, I was lucky enough to get hit with Lestrange's fist, too."

He hadn't released her hand once they'd sat down, and now he gave it a gentle squeeze when he realized that she was trying not to cry again. White-hot fury had coursed through him at her words; he had to fight the urge to leave her sitting there and plow his way into the Slytherin common room so he could throttle Malfoy and Lestrange with his bare hands, but he pushed his anger aside – Lily needed him here with her, even if she would never say as much. He wanted to tell her it was alright if she wanted to cry, it was alright if she couldn't be strong all the time because he planned on always being there to be strong for her. Words failed him, so it was a moment before he spoke with just the slightest amount of teasing in his voice.

"Well, you know, Evans, I've got great shoulders to cry on."

She did smile at that, rolling her eyes playfully before answering, "I know, you dolt. I've already cried on them twice, remember?"

He grinned back at her before turning serious once more.

"Was it just Malfoy and Lestrange? Or was there someone else?"

The look on her face told him exactly who had been there, even if his name had yet to crop up in the story.

"He just stood there….he didn't try to stop them, he didn't do anything. He just watched. But I start to become friends with you, and suddenly he's worried that I'll get _hurt_." Her voice was angry but there was also a note of heartbreak in it. Without asking for permission he pulled her into his chest, one of his hands stroking her hair as she buried her face against him again. She smelled like cherry blossoms, and her hair was so soft and silky he could have run his fingers through it all day long and been perfectly satisfied. She eventually sat upright, but didn't move away from him. Their faces were just inches apart, and the look in eyes made his heart start pounding like mad.

"Thank you, James." She whispered softly, and he could have sworn her gaze flickered down to his mouth for just a moment, and he felt himself involuntarily leaning in, mesmerized by those green eyes. She leaned closer as well, and his pulse was going so fast he wasn't entirely sure it was healthy but right now he couldn't care less because Lily Evans was _right there_, she was so close he could taste her sweet breath, just another few centimetres and –

The portrait hole opened at that precise moment. They didn't leap away from each other, but James released her quickly and took her hand again. She felt a blush stain her cheeks as she realized what just came very very close to happening. She watched the group of second year girls come in from breakfast, give her and James a strange glance, and head up to their dormitory, but all the while she was thinking how she just had very nearly kissed James Potter….and how disappointed she was that she hadn't.

_Merlin help me_, she thought. _I fancy James Potter_.

/

_**I realize the idea of Lily being tortured by the Slytherins has been used before, but I have no idea who came up with it first, so if you're reading this and it's you, then thanks for not minding.**_

_**I couldn't resist adding the Frank/Alice bit….I love them mostly because of I love Neville so much. I'm not sure it's healthy, really. But anyway…..next chapter will be the last one and will take place in their seventh year. Prepare yourselves for gobs of fluff and Marauder shenanigans, as well as Lily's temper in all its full-fledged glory.**_

_**Hope you weren't disappointed. Until next time, read and review!**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**My very first story has 13 reviews so far, and the traffic graph thingy-ma-jiggy says even more are reading it. **_

_**EJSJIFJSDKFSTOAIDSFJSAMCIOOISHDFOSAIFHCJ YOU GUYS I'M SO EXCITED THAT PEOPLE ARE READING IT. EVEN IF IT'S NOT THE BEST THING EVER PEOPLE ARE STILL READING IT. EEEEEEEE!**_

_**Okay, I'm done. On to important –ish things….someone actually asked me to do more than 4 chapters. Um…I can't. That review made me smile like a complete goon at my computer screen, trust me, but I already feel like this is getting into a sort of rut. I started out with a small story for a reason – I don't think I'm anywhere near experienced enough to put out a multi-chap that's worth reading. Hopefully I will get there someday, but until then I'm using you all as guinea pigs to become a better writer. Don't you feel special.**_

_**One more thing before we begin the (sort of) grand finale: I think in my very first author's note I used the word y'all. I have an odd feeling that some of you were slightly confused by that, so allow me to explain:**_

_**For those of you who are not from 'Murica (which means I feel bitterly jealous of you because odds are you have a cool accent, but also just a tiny bit sad because I think my country's pretty cool and I hope you feel the same way about yours), "y'all" is a Southern word referring to a 4+ group of people. I like saying it, so in my A/Ns I'm totally cool with it, but when I'm trying to write Harry Potter or other British stuff I'm all, "What's tea time?" So if you are British and find yourself openly weeping at my butchery of your vernacular, please PM me and give me some pointers. Obviously my A/Ns will give me away, but I would like the actual stories to sound somewhat authentic. You might have already known what "y'all" meant but just wanted to clear the fog for anyone who didn't .**_

_**(And no, not everyone in the South is morbidly obese and lives in a trailer and wears dirty wife beaters and chews tobacco. Those are just the people on the news that CNN has a disturbing talent for finding whenever there's a tornado.)**_

_**There. NOW you can read chapter 4.**_

/

The pillow was soft, yes, but that didn't make any less dangerous when it was being viciously chucked at his head. James ducked and the projectile hit the picture on the table behind him, knocking it to the floor and shattering the glass front. He looked up indignantly at his attacker – really, he thought, throwing books and empty ink bottles and even one of his Quidditch gloves had been enough, and now they were breaking things.

"Oi, Evans, calm down before you break something else!"

It wasn't his fault Sirius had missed the small cut above his left collarbone. Small the cut may be, the blood had still gotten all over the front of his shirt by the time he reached the common room, only to discover that he'd forgotten Lily had asked him to help schedule prefect patrols for the next month (The two of them had been appointed Heads their seventh year and already Sirius was complaining about all his new responsibilities). He'd tried to cover up where he really was, but once more he'd underestimated how smart Lily Evans was. She'd known it was a full moon, and she knew where Remus went for his transformations. Adding the blood, the claw marks on his robes, and the fact that he was sweaty and breathing heavily together she'd realized where he'd gone to. The fact that he would go near a werewolf in full transformation had made her so angry that she'd simply snatched the scale model of Jupiter off the corner table where the third years had been studying Divination earlier and thrown it at his head. More weapons soon followed, and James was forced to take cover behind one of the sofas.

"Don't you _dare_ tell me to calm down, James Potter!" Lily screeched as she hurled her shoe at him. He caught it deftly and tossed it aside. Lily only let out a shout of pure frustration and glanced around for something else to throw at his fat, insufferable, _prat-ish_ head. She couldn't believe it, she just couldn't, not after all the progress he'd made over their sixth year, he had to go and do something so completely stupid – only two weeks into the first term of their final year at Hogwarts! – she felt that she could cheerfully wring his neck.

"You great idiot, what in the _name_ of Circe were you thinking, do you have any idea how dangerous that was, what could have happened to you, did you stop to think what I'd feel like if they brought your scrawny carcass back up here to the castle and I'd be Head Girl all alone and – "

"Evans."

Blinking, she realized he'd stood up and come to stand only inches from her. One large hand came up to gently cup her chin. Still choking on her anger and tears, she tried to jerk away but he wouldn't have it. He met her eyes with his and, knowing that she needed to hear the full story even if it made her even angrier with him than she was now and even if she never spoke to him again and he lost her for good, knowing he had to tell her, because she had to the right to know what he and the lads got up to every month, he spoke quietly.

"There's more to this story than you realize, Lily. I think you ought to hear the whole thing before you resort to chucking my own belongings at me."

She was still angry, he could see that easily, but his words had gotten through and she stepped out his touch to sit in one of the armchairs. He remained standing, more from nerves than from chivalry. Running his hand through his hair, he started at the beginning.

"You know about Remus. You know what he has to go through every month."

It was a statement, not a question, and Lily nodded her agreement.

"He told us that you'd found out fifth year," James continued, "but we've known about it since our third year. He didn't want to tell us, he wanted to run and hide when we confronted him about it, but we made him hear us out. Sirius came up with a brilliant plan, the best one he's ever had. He reckoned that if Remus had someone with him, it wouldn't be so unbearable. Moony had told us one of the worst things about the full moon was that he had to suffer alone. Of course, we couldn't go near him as humans, so Sirius had the perfect solution."

_We couldn't go near him as humans._

Humans?

The words buzzed around Lily's ears, and all of a sudden she realized what he was going to say. Her eyes grew to the size of saucers and the color drained from her face so quickly James was glad she'd sat down.

"James…please tell me you didn't."

The words were a whispered plea, and while James would have cut off his right arm if it would have made Lily Evans happy he couldn't find it in himself to regret what they'd done for their friend. Remus deserved better than what had been given to him.

"I can't, Lil. We had to help him one way or another. Bringing him sweets in the hospital wing the next morning wasn't making the night before any easier for him. This way we can keep him company, and make sure he doesn't hurt himself."

"_What_?" Lily found herself on her feet again. "You three got it into your dense third year heads to become unregistered Animagi, which is illegal not to mention incredibly dangerous – "

"So what?" James broke in loudly. He wasn't angry but he didn't think she ought to be either; it wasn't as if they weren't ever careful. She opened her mouth and closed it again, not sure what to say. James continued.

"So what if it's dangerous? So what if the Ministry doesn't like it? I don't care if it was stupid to try it so young, I'm glad we did because Moony's one of the best people I've ever known. If me turning into a great furry animal once a month makes him feel like he's worth somebody's time rather than some  
half-breed outcast, then you'll have to schedule patrols with me another time. Full moons are out, every month."

The room was deathly quiet. Lily could feel her anger slowly dissipate into what really went through her mind when she'd seen all that blood. What the boys were doing for Remus was so kind and good and just had James Potter written all over it that she wanted to cry a little. But she knew that werewolves didn't remember who their friends were, and she suddenly had a mental image of Sirius and Peter carrying a limp and bloody James through the portrait hole, an anguished Remus up in the hospital wing torturing himself because he hurt his best mate….shaking her head as though to dispel the horrific possibilities, she blurted, "Aren't you lot afraid? Remus is one of my good friends, too, but he's not the same person. He would never forgive himself if one of you got hurt."

"Of course we're afraid. But I've a hunch it's a great deal scarier for Remus when he's trapped in that shack all by himself."

Something in Lily's eyes changed upon this statement, and he wondered for a moment if he'd said the wrong thing. He watched her slowly approach him in the empty common room. The firelight turned her hair into a shimmering mass of red and gold, while her eyes seemed so dark and mesmerizing he thought he could drown in them. She came within a foot of him and simply stood, looking up into his face with those eyes and he felt his heart start pounding and those ridiculous butterflies start dancing and his palms start to sweat.

"Just…be careful, alright? I don't want you to get hurt."

Her request made a cocky grin spread on James's face as he replied, "Why, Evans, I didn't realize you cared so much." To his surprise, she didn't smile or laugh, only continued to look at him as though she were seeing him for the very first time.

When she moved, it was slowly, deliberately. She reached up and pressed a gentle kiss to his cheek, then smiled at him.

"I think that Remus is the luckiest bloke in the world to have friends like you."

An enormous relief filled him upon hearing those words, and he released the breath he hadn't realized he was holding. He reached out and pulled her into a tight hug against his chest. Her arms immediately wrapped around his middle, and she buried her face in that shoulder that seemed like it was made for her to do so, it fit so perfectly. They stood like that for several long moments, then Lily pulled back just slightly and looked at him rather sheepishly.

"I'm sorry I threw your Chaser gloves at you."

"If I'd known you have that kind of an arm, Evans," he laughed, "I would have been round to get you on my team years ago."

/

James skidded to a stop, his trainers squeaking on the dungeon floor. He tried to be quiet, but the classroom door still gave an almighty creak as he pushed it open, causing the entire seventh year N.E.W.T level Potions class to turn around and look at him. Slughorn paused mid-sentence and raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry sir…Peeves jinxed some suit of armor to chase a bunch of first years. I had to go fetch McGonagall."

"Alright, well then Mr. Potter if you would join Miss Evans here she can get you caught up."

As James slid into the seat next to Lily, Sirius turned from the table in front of theirs where he was working with Remus and shot the two of them a suggestive look. James promptly kicked his chair so hard he nearly fell off, causing Lily to giggle. He glanced sideways at her, grinning as he pulled out his textbook.

"Well, Evans, you seem to be especially chipper this morning. Care to share?"

When all she did was smile and shrug at him – Merlin, but that smile was going to be the death of him, he just knew it – he knew something really had happened to put her in such a good mood. He set his Potions kit aside and turned to face her completely.

"Let's hear it, Evans. What's happened?"

Glancing around to make sure nobody was eavesdropping, she leaned closer and whispered, "I'm just trying to imagine what animal you turn into. Rather…._interesting_, the possibilities I've come up with."

Her words were innocent enough, completely innocent actually, but something in her quiet tone made goosebumps erupt all over James's skin. He suppressed a shiver and lowered his own voice.

"Maybe we should sneak out some night and I could show you." Now it was her turn to squirm; he hadn't said anything to make her blush but her mind conjured enough images of what a night of sneaking out with James Potter would be like to do the job. This was, of course, exactly what James had been aiming for. He grinned at her reddening face but mercifully turned his attention to the potion bubbling merrily in her cauldron.

"Going strong already then?"

"Yes, we'll need to add the next eight ingredients in about twenty minutes." Glad to have something else to talk about, she gestured to the neat little piles before them on the worktable. She checked the order of the ingredients again before allowing herself a small peek at James. He was reading the next set of instructions out of the book, his brow furrowed slightly in concentration, and as she watched he unconsciously stuck the tip of his tongue between his lips. She blushed again and quickly rifled through the pages of her own textbook just so she would stop thinking how much like an adorable small child he had looked just then, how he loved to make her blush but somehow always seemed to know when to stop before he made her angry, how close she had come to kissing him – _twice!_ – in the past six months. She wondered what he was thinking about – if those subtle, gentle flirtations were based on actual feelings or if he was just being nice.

But if he was being nice, he would limit it to more friendly things, wouldn't he, not friendly-friendly things. He wouldn't tell her she was beautiful – never fit, never hot, always beautiful – and he wouldn't focus more on her than on anything else in the room no matter what else was going on. He wouldn't make sure she always had someone to walk back to the common room with after dark; after last year the attacks had gotten more vicious and muggle-borns were taking extra precautions; and he definitely wouldn't have confided the Marauders' biggest, most trusted secret to her if he only thought of her as a friend. Would he? Her thoughts spiraled and circled in her head, and she tried to make sense of it all when suddenly James tapped her shoulder.

"Lily? I think it's time to add these."

She looked at him, flustered, and nodded her agreement before helping him scoop the prepared ingredients into the potion.

The remainder of the class passed in silence; Lily was obviously preoccupied and James had no idea if he'd done something wrong or if yet another thing had been added to Lily's plate to deal with. Whatever it was, it seemed to be troubling her a great deal, and he was just on the verge of asking her what was wrong when the bell sounded. She was gone before he could even formulate a sentence, and as he watched the back of her head scurry out the door he had never felt more confused in his life.

"What did you do now?" Sirius's exasperated voice came from behind him. James stood for a moment, before he replied.

"No idea, Pads."

/

Lily leaned over the parapet of the Astronomy Tower, bundled tightly against the crisp night air. There was crescent moon, and the sky was so clear it felt as though she could reach out and touch the stars from where she stood. The solitude and quiet beauty did wonders for her frayed nerves; she felt smothered in the packed common room, where everyone was too close and everything was too loud and James Potter's lips had been too soft-

_No_.

She had escaped the party, gotten away from the maniacal celebration following the first Quidditch match of the season. James had led his team to thoroughly trounce Ravenclaw, and Sirius had gotten so much firewhisky from Madam Rosmerta that it gave Lily a headache to even think of. Still though, it was her last year and she was of age so she'd had more than her fair share. The room was overheated and dark around the edges where various couples were entangled on the couches and armchairs and – in Sirius and Marlene's case – on the floor leaned up against the wall. It was all so blurred together because it was all happening so fast, and when James had asked her to dance – he wasn't the least bit drunk despite all the alcohol he'd consumed – she had nearly upset her chair getting up to wrap her arms around his neck. She didn't remember one thing about the music, only how nice it felt to stand where she was. She didn't remember how long they had danced together, only that the party had gotten much quieter by the time James had done it.

She'd been leaning against him, swaying to the music, and one of her hands had been on his chest where she could feel his heartbeat, steady and reassuring. He had rested his head atop hers and was one hand slowly running through her hair. Suddenly she had pulled back and informed him that he played Quidditch extremely well (she blamed it on the alcohol) and then he had leaned down and kissed her.

No permission asked, no hesitation whatsoever. There was nothing shy about his motions, but then there wasn't much shy about hers either. Things had gotten rather heated by the time she disentangled herself from his arms and all but ran out the portrait hole.

She supposed she'd have to talk to him eventually, after all they were Co-Heads, but for the time being she wanted to postpone that moment where she'd have to look him in the eye and admit to herself that he'd only kissed her because he was more drunk than she'd previously thought.

The door behind her opened suddenly, and her heart jumped into her throat as she whirled and drew her wand, pointing it straight at James' chest. He raised his hands in surrender, but looked at her critically and asked, "Are you alright? You left so quickly…." He let the sentence hang awkwardly, and she found herself unable to meet his gaze. Scrutinizing the flagstones at her feet, she mumbled something about getting a bit of fresh air and chanced a look up at him. The look on his face was unreadable as he slowly approached her, and with every step he took she took one backwards until her back hit the parapet behind her and he kept coming anyway until his hands rested against the stone on either side of her, trapping her in his arms without touching her.

"Did you not want me to kiss you?"

The question was spoken so softly that Lily could have pretended not to hear it, but she really couldn't have, not when James was so close and he was looking at her like that.

"Why would you?" Her voice was frustrated, and he took a moment to try and decipher what was really wrong because he had a feeling she wasn't about to tell him. Suddenly it hit him, and – oh. _Oh_. Sweet Merlin. She wasn't serious, was she?

"How could I _not_ kiss you? You were right there, and you smelled nice and looked so pretty and I couldn't really think of good enough reason to bother with the effort it would have taken to restrain myself."

"But why?" she wanted to know, and it might have just been her but she swore she could hear her heart shatter when he simply stood and looked at her for a moment.

"Well, I'm no expert on these things, but I reckon it's because I'm completely in love with you."

She felt her jaw drop open. He couldn't have just said that, he was James Potter and had the entirety of the female student population at Hogwarts swooning on a daily basis. And yet he stood there in the starlight telling her he loved her of all people. Her, a commonplace ginger Muggle-born who had a knack for finding more trouble than was good for her.

Her reaction confirmed his suspicions, and he had to fight a laugh that she would ever think such a thing.

"Why did you think I kissed you?"

"I didn't know how much you'd had to drink."

His gut wrenched painfully as he realized what he'd done to her. He reached up a hand to tuck a wayward strand of hair behind her ear.

"Love, I've been fighting the urge to snog you senseless ever since third year. Tonight was the first time I felt sure you wouldn't fight me on it. Trust me when I tell you that those lips of yours have been driving me mad for a while now."

She wondered if maybe this was all a sick joke, but then he looked at her with something she now recognized as complete adoration and she knew that he wasn't joking, that James would never joke about this and that she could trust him because it was James and she knew could trust him with anything and everything.

Something in her fused back together before she'd even had time to realize it was broken, and she reached up and pulled his lips down to hers, their breath mingling as they indulged in the other's taste and memorized the contours of the other's mouth and clung to each other like it was all that mattered, when in all actuality nothing else did matter because they were finally where they were supposed to be.

Eventually they had to breathe, so James rested his forehead on hers and pantingly said, "Go to Hogsmeade with me?"

She grinned at him as she replied, "Sure. I'll need to let the squid know I've made other plans."

He laughed as he bent to kiss her again.

_**And there you have it. Hope it wasn't too wordy or drawn-out or fast paced or whatever for you. Thanks so much for reading. I'll try to have something else up soon – finals are swiftly approaching and I really need to focus. But once I finish those I'll indulge myself. Until next time!**_


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